Not only did rally ace Sébastien Loeb triumph in Rally Monte Carlo at the weekend, he also added another WRC record to his name by winning the event for the fifth time. This record is shared with Loeb’s long-time co-driver Daniel Elena, who has been with Loeb since their first victory at Monte Carlo in a Citroën Xsara.
Loeb and Citroën have officially won at Monte Carlo five times, but the pair actually won there six times, starting in 2002. Loeb was disqualified that year after the Citroën team had changed his car’s tyres in a prohibited area. The victory was claimed by legendary Tommi Makinen, but it was the last of his four consecutive wins in Monte Carlo.
Although he has never lost on asphalt since losing the 2006 Monte Carlo Rally to Marcus Gronholm, Loeb nevertheless paced himself on the final day. During the first two legs of the rally, Loeb’s Citroën teammate Dani Sordo looked like he was driving to a certain podium spot, but was plagued by turbo problems in his C4. BP-Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen soon capitalised and stole second place.
“More than the fact that this was our 37th WRC victory and our fifth Monte win, I think the most significant thing is the way we won this year,” said Loeb “Our C4 performed faultlessly throughout and the set-up we chose for the start proved excellent. The C4 and the Pirelli tyres also functioned well together on these asphalt stages, which were often damp. It’s always nice to start the season with a win, but I have no intention of getting carried away because there are some very difficult rallies to come.”
Despite not ending up on the podium, Sordo still managed to get an extra point for the manufacturers’ championship once his car was sorted. While he pushed for a points scoring position, Sordo grabbed a fastest time along the way, putting the Citroën Total team ahead in the championship standings by one point. Subaru are second, followed by BP-Ford and privateers Stobart M-Sport, both tied in third.
“We were the only ones who could keep up with Sébastien’s pace,” Sordo said. “Once again, our car was awesomely quick on asphalt and I was also pleased with the way our tyres performed. That was one of the unknown factors before the start. Last but not least, I’m glad to have picked up a manufacturers’ point for Citroën.”
New BP-Ford recruit Jari-Matti Latvala, didn’t have a very successful first outing for the factory team and dropped out on the second day. The second-place finish by the Blue Oval’s new lead driver Hirvonen ensures that Ford doesn’t stay far behind their main competition of last season, Loeb and Citroën.
“Second is a great result for me and a perfect start to the season,” said Hirvonen. “I’ve never had a good rally here so to take a podium is fantastic and it almost feels as good as a win. I started the season how I wanted to with a good result. I didn’t know what to expect from this rally but my plan for the year is to finish second if I can’t win a rally. When I moved into second I eased off because I was under no pressure from behind. I was uncertain how the news tyres from Pirelli would work. They were good but it’s up to me to be careful on the recce (reconnaissance) when making the pace notes.”
Behind Hirvonen, Subaru’s Chris Atkinson and Stobart’s Francois Duval were engaged in a close battle for most of the initial stages, but by the end of leg two Atkinson had stretched the gap between the two by over 20 seconds. Duval stated later in the day that he would rather focus more on getting his car to the finish line, than attempt to catch the Australian. This may have let Atkinson’s guard down a bit, because going in to the final stage, Duval cut the lead down to a meagre 1,1 seconds.
The final stage was a super special run around the city of Monaco that used parts of the F1 circuit. Althou gh Atkinson was in a similar situation when he was hunting Hirvonen down for fourth into the super special last season, it was his turn to be dogged during the final stage at Monte Carlo. Any slight mistake from Atkinson meant that Duval would snatch the final spot on the podium. Instead, the pair ended up tying each other for the stage win and third went to Atkinson – but Duval also deserves special mention for his superb performance on the final day.
The next event scheduled is Rally Sweden, an event traditionally won by Swedes and Finns only. The snowy conditions favour these drivers, but that long list of winners (stemming back from 1950) changed when Loeb won the event in 2004.